Edition #45
June 28, 2026
Welcome to The W Profile, a study of the women leading at the intersection of sports, media, and global business. As college athletics adopts professional structures, it is instructive to look to the visionaries who have already mastered the complexities of the corporate world. By bringing C-Suite lessons to the athletics community, this series will provide leaders with the insights necessary to build a lasting legacy.
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Introduction
When Walmart Inc. needed an executive to take the helm of its $96 billion members-only wholesale chain and aggressively challenge Costco's dominance, they turned to a leader who spent nearly three decades mastering every inch of the retail giant's internal machinery. Latriece Watkins, who was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Sam's Club in February 2026, stepped into the role having already proven her ability to capture market share among America's most affluent households.
She is responsible for overseeing a massive operational footprint of nearly 600 warehouse clubs, while executing an ambitious mandate to double sales, profit, and membership in the coming years. Her leadership is defined by an uncompromising focus on premium product curation, a 360-degree understanding of corporate operations, and a commitment to utilizing Sam's Club as Walmart’s ultimate innovation engine for frictionless consumer technology.
From Real Estate to Retail Royalty
Watkins’ executive DNA was not forged in the traditional merchandising pipeline. In her second year at the University of Arkansas School of Law, she joined Walmart in 1997 as a real estate intern. She spent her early years successfully climbing the corporate ladder in the real estate division, eventually managing property initiatives for Walmart and Sam's Club locations across the country.
However, her career was forever altered by a blunt conversation with Doug McMillon (who would later become Walmart's CEO). He informed her that while she was an impressive executive, she was on the wrong career path if she wanted to reach the absolute top of the company. He advised her that at Walmart, "the merchant is king or queen"—if she wasn't at the core of what the company actually did (buying and selling goods), she would eventually hit a ceiling. Watkins boldly pivoted. Over the next two decades, she built a resume across human resources, store operations, and ultimately merchandising. By 2023, she had ascended to Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer for Walmart U.S., making her one of the most powerful people in the industry and directly responsible for the $500 billion worth of products the company sold annually.
The Sam's Club Playbook
Watkins approaches the warehouse club model with a strategy that treats time and premium quality as the ultimate consumer commodities. Her playbook encompasses three critical pillars:
➤ Curation for the Affluent Consumer: Watkins understands that to compete in the membership club space, the product mix must feel exclusive. During her time as Walmart's chief merchant, she aggressively wooed higher-income households (earning $100,000+) by introducing premium brands like Sonos and La Roche-Posay and elevating private labels. She is now applying this high-end curation strategy to Sam's Club to maximize membership value.
➤ The 360-Degree Operational View: Because Watkins has held leadership roles in real estate, HR, operations, and merchandising, she refuses to view business challenges in a silo. She leverages this end-to-end perspective to ensure that high-level merchandising strategies are actually executable by the frontline workers on the warehouse floor.
➤ Frictionless Convenience as a Growth Driver: Watkins treats Sam's Club as a technological testing ground. By heavily investing in rapid e-commerce fulfillment (delivering to 60% of members in under three hours) and expanding in-store innovations like the frictionless Scan & Go checkout, she ensures the retailer competes on speed and convenience just as fiercely as it does on price.
Lessons on Boldness and Cultural Relevance
Watkins built a historic career on the willingness to completely disrupt her own trajectory. Moving from a highly specialized, successful real estate path into the cutthroat, unfamiliar world of merchandising required immense humility and calculated risk. She operates with the core belief passed down by founder Sam Walton: "We're all merchants." She views elite leadership not just as high-level corporate strategy, but as a fundamental, gritty understanding of what the consumer actually wants to buy today.
Crucially, as a native of McGehee, Arkansas who rose to the Fortune 100 Most Powerful Women list, she maintains a profoundly grounded perspective on corporate relationships. She anchors her success in the advice of the strong women in her family, proving that you can navigate the highest, most ruthless levels of Fortune 1 corporate politics by leading with fundamental human respect.
Takeaways
➤ Pivots Unlock Potential: Watkins' transition from real estate to merchandising proves that climbing the corporate ladder often requires the courage to move laterally into the core, revenue-driving engine of the business, even if it means starting over in a new discipline.
➤ Embrace the 360-Degree View: Her nearly three-decade journey through HR, real estate, and operations before hitting the C-suite proves that the most effective CEOs deeply understand the internal machinery of every department they oversee.
➤ Curation Shifts Demographics: By aggressively upgrading product assortments, she demonstrated that legacy value retailers can successfully capture high-income market share without abandoning their core promise of everyday low prices.
➤ Time is a Retail Commodity: Her focus on rapid delivery and Scan & Go checkout highlights that modern consumers value speed, autonomy, and convenience just as much as financial savings.
Read. Watch. Listen.
READ: Her 2026 feature in Fast Company titled "Meet the Sam's Club CEO Tasked with Taking on Costco," which details her deliberate strategy of elevating product curation to attract higher-income demographics to the retailer. (link)
WATCH: Her sit-down interview with Fortune's Emma Hinchliffe, where Watkins discusses the pressure of stepping into the top job of a $96B business, and the pivotal career advice she received that pushed her out of real estate and into merchandising. (link)
LISTEN: Her appearance on the Most Innovative Companies podcast, where she breaks down how Sam's Club is aggressively pushing the boundaries of retail technology, prioritizing sub-three-hour delivery and eliminating checkout friction to respect the modern member's time. (link)
Quote to Remember
Most of my days are jam-packed, but every month I set aside time just for mentoring. I get to talk to people and help guide them. In the process of doing that, I discover so much and get joy out of people’s experiences. I try to be really honest. I talked to a guy last night who just got promoted. He said, ‘I told my wife you’ll probably never see me.’ I said, ‘Well, call her back and tell her that you were just kidding, because that’s not okay.’ Jobs don’t love you back. People do. And the more we keep that in mind, the better everyone will be.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Thasunda Brown Duckett – President and Chief Executive Officer, TIAA
Publication Date: Wednesday, June 24
Maria Valdes – Chief Brand Officer, PUMA
Publication Date: Sunday, June 21
Morgan Cato – EVP of Player Operations, National Basketball Players Association
Publication Date: Wednesday, June 17
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(Posted from most recent over the last 15 days)
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(NEW!) Assistant Swimming & Diving Coach (Ops) (Army West Point / West Point, NY): Coaching & recruiting Cadet-athletes, monitoring academic progress, and fostering their development, discipline, and conduct, overseeing the planning and execution of team operations and logistics. More details HERE.
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Head Women's Lacrosse Coach (Virginia Wesleyan University / Virginia Beach, VA): Virginia Wesleyan (becoming Batten University 7/1), a NCAA Division III institution and a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, is accepting applications for a Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach. More details HERE. What would it cost to move to Virginia Beach? Click HERE.
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Diving Coach (Florida International University / Miami, FL): Provides assistance to the Head Coach with activities associated with the Swimming & Diving program and student athletes, including recruitment, monitoring academic performance and social development. More details HERE.
Assistant Athletic Trainer (Florida International University / Miami, FL): Florida International University's Athletics Department is seeking an Athletic Trainer to support the health, safety, and performance of student-athletes. More details HERE.
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Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach (Florida International University / Miami, FL): Enhances the physical and mental development of student-athletes through the establishment of specific training programs and activities to increase the performance of student-athletes. More details HERE.
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Assistant Coach - Baseball (Missouri State University / Springfield, MO): The Assistant Coach is responsible for specifically designated aspects of the sport, exercises independent judgment in providing technical expertise in the fundamentals of the sport. More details HERE.
Assistant Director of Athletic Counseling (Oregon State University / Corvallis, OR): Provide strategic leadership for academic counseling, supervising a team of academic counselors across all sports. Responsible for establishing, maintaining, and promoting best practices. More details HERE.
Assistant Manager of Facility Events and Rentals (Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT / Cambridge, MA): Working in conjunction with students, coaches, faculty, and staff, provides management for the evening and weekend operations of facilities with a focus on managing and supervising athletic events. More details HERE.
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Deputy Athletics Director, Internal Operations (Towson University / Towson, MD): This position provides oversight of internal operations, student-athlete development initiatives, departmental policy and compliance functions, conference and NCAA reporting. More details HERE. What would it cost to move to Towson? Click HERE.
Tyler Family Endowed Director of Student-Athlete Development (University of Arizona / Tucson, AZ): Empower Wildcats beyond competition. Lead career readiness, leadership development, and life skills initiatives that prepare student-athletes for success in college and beyond sport. More details HERE.
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Nutritionist (University of Arizona / Tucson, AZ): Help fuel championship performance by delivering expert sports nutrition counseling, education, and meal planning to support the health, wellness, and success of Arizona student-athletes. More details HERE.
Assistant Director, Ticket Operations (University of Arizona / Tucson, AZ): Support the Wildcat fan experience by managing ticket operations for assigned sports, overseeing event-day box office functions, and delivering exceptional customer service. More details HERE.
Associate Director, Ticketing (University of Notre Dame / Notre Dame, IN): Part of a dynamic ticket office team - primary responsibility for a reserved seating sport while helping shape and elevate the overall ticketing strategy. More details HERE.
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Assistant Men's Ice Hockey Coach (Army West Point / West Point, NY): Coaching Cadet-athletes, season planning, recruiting, logistics, scheduling, managing travel, and managing the team’s budget including purchasing. More details HERE.
Assistant/Associate Head Men's Rugby Coach (Army West Point / West Point, NY): Coaching, recruiting, monitoring Cadet-athletes’ academic progress, scheduling, managing travel, overseeing the discipline and conduct of the Cadet-athletes. More details HERE.
Assistant Baseball Coach (Army West Point / West Point, NY): Coaching, recruiting, monitoring Cadet-athletes’ academic progress, scheduling, managing travel, overseeing the discipline and conduct of the Cadet-athletes. More details HERE.
Football Equipment Manager (Florida International University / Miami, FL): Manages the procedures for the storage, maintenance, repair, and inventory control of all equipment apparel, and field equipment for the football team. More details HERE.